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Gal'leath (Explorer)-class Starship
The Gal'leath'' (Explorer)-class Starship''' is a large T'au colonisation and exploration starship first used in the T'au Kor'vattra and now in the T'au Merchant Fleet. It represents a breakthrough in T'au science that made the T'au Empire possible. When it was first produced, its massive reactor was capable of sustaining unprecedented speeds in realspace. Compared to the travel time of Imperial Warp-Drives, this was slower by a factor of five, but it was adequate for the T'au's needs and allowed the empire to expand far beyond its home star system to colonise previously unreachable expanses of space. The vessel, like all T'au starships, was later retrofitted with the ZFR Horizon Accelerator Engine, which allowed it to attain relativistic velocities close to that of the speed of light. The Gal'leath-class Starship boasted a massive cargo capacity, extensive research facilities and, most importantly, the ability to serve as a mobile dock for semi-independent spacecraft. Its cargo bays were large enough to carry modular orbital units, waystations and even (more recently) message boats. It was the galleon of the T'au Empire and for nearly a hundred tau’cyr (local T'au years) it was the only class of starship continually in production by T'au orbital stations. During this time, the Gal'leath underwent many iterations, from the Mark I to XXIII, and benefited from a succession of improvements and special adaptations with each upgrade. However, the T'au Empire's first major conflicts with the Orks was the Gal'leath-class Starship's death knell. Whilst the equivalent in size to a Battleship, the Gal'leath was not a specialist warship and its weaponry was incapable of keeping Terror Ships and Kill Kroozers at a distance. As a result, work by the Earth Caste on the ''Il'fannor'' (Merchant)-class Starship was accelerated. When it finally went into full production, production of the now dated Gal'leath dropped by 85%. Notable Ships *'''''Dal'yth Gal'leath Kessan - This vessel may be the last of the Gal'leath-class Starships to be built in the T'au Sept Dal'yth. Gal'leath construction is now being wound down and most work involves converting the older Mark XXIII craft to the Mark XXIV design developed by the Water Caste of Bor'kan. Kor'o Kessan is a veteran captain of this class of ship and, together with the bulk of his crew, was assigned his new vessel after surviving an attack by Ork pirates on the edge of the Damocles Gulf. The Dal'yth Gal'leath Kessan has been outfitted with a complement of Mantas and is to be the flagship for a major expedition into the Farsight Enclaves under the overall direction of Aun'shi himself, and including a scientific team lead by the venerated biologist Por’O Jess’l. Much of this Gal'leath''s' cavernous hold has been converted to laboratories prior to the mission. Armament Vash'ya Variant Whilst production of the ''Gal'leath has largely ceased in the T'au Empire, refits of existing starships for the T'au Merchant Fleet have continued. The most common configuration in use currently is the standard Vash'ya Mark XXIII. This particular configuration is armed and equipped with a prow-mounted Railgun battery, five defensive turrets mounted around its hull, port and starboard launch bays each capable of carrying four squadrons of Barracuda fighters and Manta gunships, three Gravitic Hooks each capable of transporting a ''Kass'l'' (Orca)-class Gunship with the Gal'leath, and standard T'au starship class gravitic shielding. Bor'kan Variant The experimental Bor'kan Mark XXIV is another configuration currently in use that is largely similar to the Vash'ya Mark XXIII, except it is fitted with an additional prow-mounted Gravitic Launcher weapons system. However, launch bay space in this variant has been reduced down to two squadrons a side in order to clear additional storage space for the weapon systems' drone-guided missile ammunition. Sources *''Battlefleet Gothic Armada'', pp. 98, 100-101 *''Battlefleet Gothic Magazine – Issue 19'', pp. 17-19 es:Acorazado clase Gal'leath Category:G Category:Tau Category:Tau Empire *G &G Category:Spacecraft